317 Responses

It's fascinating to me who has been entranced by Key. Last night, I had a discussion with a very dear friend of mine who is a fire officer - a public service job, one would think a traditional labour stronghold and they're on strike for pete's sake - and he expressed great dismay at comments made by some of his subordinates, young men, who had voiced admiration for the PM.(It went something like this. "I can't believe..." "I know!" "I'm so frustrated." "I know!" etc) He also brought up the point that he thinks we have been almost deliberately illinformed about MMP. As he said, most people don't know what the alternatives are, so when it comes to the referendum, how many people are going to leave the 2nd box unticked? It was something I hadn't thought about.

Yes Jackie, knowing t'other half you'll understand how he spent time last night informing people of their ignorance when comments admiring Key came up. Of course the extremely wealthy were the first to be educated. I on the other hand,drank said wealthy's wine.So many say " oh he seems like such a lovely man." One person who I have a lot of time for added " I think he has integrity" I gulped and said " No, he doesn't, what do you like about him? " And she couldn't actually answer past that. This from someone in Health. She didn't equate any of her major problems at the Hospital to Brand Key. At least another up there is quite vocal about her dislike for Brand Key.I notice they don't mention National at all. It's all about Johnny boy. Yuk yuk yuk. As for MMP and alternatives, I reckon the STV box will get a tick because after MMP those who don't know them will see TV and go "Oh I watch TV, that will do".

Tension over “Tea Gate” boiled over through Radio Live airwaves when shock jock Michael Laws told listeners to kill journalists.

OK, so who’s laying the complaint to the Broadcasting Standards Authority? Even by Laws’ easily tripped tipping point for hyperbolic twatcockery that’s…. well… extreme. I don’t want to engage in distasteful speculation about his mental wellness but it’s damn tempting.

ETA: And yeah, if I’d ever advocated shooting journalists on Public Address Radio I hope I’d have been tired on the spot. Keep it classy, Radio Live.

I'm not so sure about that, and wouldn't even confidently say it meets any legal bar for incitement. But as I pointed out, it has a nasty whiff when journalists are being murdered for doing their jobs.

Last night, I had a discussion with a very dear friend of mine who is a fire officer – a public service job, one would think a traditional labour stronghold and they’re on strike for pete’s sake – and he expressed great dismay at comments made by some of his subordinates, young men, who had voiced admiration for the PM.

I’m actually not at all surprised. Career fire fighters are, despite being the last stronghold of fervent unionism in the country (well over 90% are union members, and their president makes O’Connor look rather tame), quite a conservative bunch. It’s still a deeply male career choice (I believe there are 38 career fire fighters in NZ who are female, out of about 1400), quite heavily white, quite middle-class in terms of family origin, and the nature of the recruitment panels encourages conformance to that profile; for reasons not least of which is the informal preference given to the sons of past or current career firies. Given the low pay (base rate on graduation from Rotorua is something like $32k) many of them have second jobs, mostly in the trades because it’s easier to work that around the shift pattern.Right now National are effectively engaged in a battle with the entire NZ Fire Service, volunteer and career on different fronts, The battle with volunteers has largely been hidden from public view, but if National win on Saturday I’ll be expecting that to change. I’m disappointed that there’s significant support for National, but not surprised. The comprehension of cause/effect is just as detached from reality within NZFS as it is within any other segment of the country. Hell, look at the beneficiaries who think that National’s policies will help them get off the benefit!

I guess that's right, Matthew. Just more examples of people looking at Key and his cronies holding up bright and shiny promises - despite bright and shiny not being delivered on, and despite the very real probability of things getting even more dire with a second term - and being dazzled. It's witchcraft. That can be the only possible explanation as to this continued national fit of stupidity.

I have to say, it's nice to see a flurry of articles in the HoS that are less-than-complimentary about Key. Some of them even question his record on actually answering questions about policy - over 100 approaches by RNZ have been declined by National - as opposed to his sudden interest in doing so.

I'm waiting for publication of my two excoriating comments on how the media have made themselves the bad guys with the "sudden" attack on a man who they've spent three years fawning over. If they'd done their job properly for the last three years this would just be another episode inholding the PM to account, as opposed to what looks like the dog attacking the master.

I spotted a Facebook comment where a Key acolyte added his $0.02 to a teapot-tapes media-bashing fest with "No wonder you lot are held in worse regard by the general public than politicians". A clarification followed: "Not politicians, used-car salesmen."

Just like the woman in the paper the other day who was voting National because the other parties would cut education funding. Where do people get their ideas from?

Perhaps a politician told her so. I don't know if Christchurch-based National list MP Aaron Gilmore is representative of a class of barely-accountable and semi-useful holy idiots spawned by MMP, or whether he's just in a class of his own. Here are a couple of examples of his peddling misleading nonsense on stilts, with no-one willing or able to effectively call him out:

Presumably he does it of his own volition as a self-appointed understudy out to score Brownlee points. It's a subject on which fellow Chch National list MP Nicky Wagner has been largely silent. Many people in the affected quake zones are elderly or vulnerable in other ways. Because Gilmore enjoys the reputation of being a card-carrying buffoon he somehow gets a free pass to spread disinformation that has the potential to seriously screw with people's lives.

Today John Key got a patsy interview with number one fan Paul Holmes, whilst Goff and Peters got Guyon Espiner.

I would bet my house that was arranged before Key would agree to appear. When Key has spent the last three years doing this - and getting away with being treated like some South Pacific Berlusconi by a compliant media - the wonder is 40%+ of New Zealanders still won't vote for him.

From National. Look at the success of the narrative that were it not for National being in charge right now, we'd be really in the poo. That they inherited books that were in a shocking state, and it's only by their good management that we're not double-figures in the red before accounting for Christchurch.I went and found Treasury's briefing to English as incoming Minister in 2008, and he took over core Crown debt of $319m. That's effectively zero. But damned if you can find a hard-core Nats supporter (and Craig clearly doesn't count, given his stated disillusionment with the Party) who'll acknowledge that English has had enormous freedom to play fast-and-loose with monetary policy because Cullen stewarded the books into a very healthy state. That the only reason we aren't much deeper in the poo is because of Cullen, not English. They just don't want to hear it.

That’s the number of journalists killed this year alone because of their professional activities, according to Reporters Without Frontiers.

Radio Live might want to think about that before giving a troll a live mic.

Yep, he’s the Kiwi Glenn Beck all right. And he was strangely silent on Anders Breivik and Hackgate, two major issues you’d expect him to have an opinion on. Unless of course, he thinks no true Scotsman can do such a thing.

Just met Jacinda Ardern, what an amazing woman, I mentioned PAS (she spoke very highly of PAS and RB in particular), we chatted, she was door knocking, great chat, wide ranging and she gave me some very informed options, which I needed.What a breath of fresh air. I go to the Grey Lynn festival every year, you see alot of Aucklanders out having fun, eating, listening to music, playing music, buying stuff, saw Len Brown, Willie Jackson, some old friends of mine. The National billboard has been given a Hitler mustache…I couldn't envisage John, Bill, Joyce or Gerry enjoying themselves there.

Just met Jacinda Ardern, what an amazing woman, I mentioned PAS (she spoke very highly of PAS and RB in particular),

Shoosh! People will talk.

we chatted, she was door knocking, great chat, wide ranging and she gave me some very informed options, which I needed.What a breath of fresh air

I think she's for real. Before the LATE at the Museum gig I drafted her for, I told her she wouldn't be able to make a stump speech and she'd be speaking as an individual. She contributed impressively to that brief.

Mind you, I've got nothing in particular against Nikki Kaye either. As I've said before, I think the Auckland Central lineup is actually very good.

I go to the Grey Lynn festival every year, you see alot of Aucklanders out having fun, eating, listening to music, playing music, buying stuff, saw Len Brown

I saw him watching the triathlon today. Not as part of a media opportunity, just standing watching it on a corner.

I would bet my house that was arranged before Key would agree to appear. When Key has spent the last three years doing this – and getting away with being treated like some South Pacific Berlusconi by a compliant media – the wonder is 40%+ of New Zealanders still won’t vote for him.

In my more bitter moments I think of him more as the Vladimir Putin of the South Pacific - carefully managed persona concealing impenetrable void.

And before Craig jumps on me, I was only talking about the PR, not about any of the nastier things that happen in Putin country